There are many household cleaning and wiping products that are available to the consumer today. Ordinary detergents and waxes can be utilized to aid the housekeeper in the daily chores of cleansing and polishing. Items such as sponges, paper towels and soft cloths can be employed in conjunction with the varies cleaners. However, the use of paper products or sponges with cleaning agents is usually costly since one wiping product is restrictive to use with one specific cleaning product. Also where one is seeking to clean a variety of items the requirement of a two step process of applying a cleaner to the surface wiping and rinsing the surface with a cloth or sponge is generally a tedious task.
There are numerous products on the market today that save time and provide an easy method of cleaning. These products provide absorbent substrates impregnated with liquid compositions.
However, although these impregnated substrates are more convenient, they have a disadvantage in that one substrate must be used for one different task. For instance, when one cleans the kitchen and bathroom, one may use the article for cleaning described in EP Patent No. 0211,664. This cleaning aid is comprised of a sheet, sponge or pad and contains a core compound which is a nonionic surfactant. U.S. Pat. No. 4,725,489 describes a wipe that can be used solely in a bathroom. To clean glass surfaces one may utilize a wipe described in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,666,621 and 4,448,704, which provide streak-free cleaning. There are also wipes that generally pick up dirt that contain an oil as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,448,478 and also wipes that have an antistatic agent impregnated substrate as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,627,936.
So one can see that although the two step process is eliminated by use of the afore mentioned wipes, the number of wipes needed in order t accomplish household chores may be volumious.
Each of these products mentioned above have a variety of different substrate bases with a specific compound impregnated therein in order to perform the task which they hope to accomplish. For instance, in U.S. Pat. No. 4,448,704 the substrate is comprised of a nonwoven fabric or paper and the compound impregnated therein includes a surface active agent and a partially esterified resin. This article is produced by a process which includes prewashing the substrate to remove any streak forming impurities. This wipe is therefore, especially designed to use on glass surfaces.
Other substrate material designed to accomplish the specific task are illustrated in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,600,620, 4,232,128, and 3,616,157. Specifically use of a core material of bulky high porous fibers sheet material and a wiping surface having flatten areas of thermoplastic coating as a substrate, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,600,620, has a particular surface construction that gives advantages in the wiping of hard glossy surfaces. A cellulose hydrate and ten to eighty percent polyolefin fiber substrate as described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,232,128, is especially useful for cleaning water repellant surfaces and for removing stains. An embossed nonwoven fabric substrate, as described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,616,157 is useful for wiping and cleaning material for aqueous and/or oleaginous liquids. Varies compounds which are impregnated in these specific substrates include anionic, nonionic surfactant, viscous semisolids, granules, wax, and silicone. These compounds vary with the task that the wipe is supposed to perform.
However, none of the above mentioned products offer a wipe that can be used in a variety of household tasks such as cleaning furniture, kitchen surfaces and appliances, bathroom surfaces and appliances, and doors. Thus there is a need in the art to provide a multifunctional wipe for use in household cleaning that is disposable.